Meet Our Scholars

Jeff Sheng is a photographer, artist and sociologist whose artwork has been internationally exhibited. He has taught as a visiting professor of photography and visual studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and most recently at Harvard University in 2011. Jeff first attained recognition for his photographic series 'Fearless,' a project on out lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender athletes on high school and college sports teams. This work was inspired by Jeff's own personal experience and difficulty as a closeted high school athlete growing up in a conservative suburb of Southern California. Since 2003 he has photographed and interviewed over 130 individuals for this series, and spoken about homophobia in athletics at many colleges and high schools as part of his 'Fearless' campaign to highlight this issue to the public. Between 2009-2011 his other photography series 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' focusing on over 80 closeted service members affected by the government policy known by that same name, was widely covered by media including The New York Times, CNN, BBC, and ABC World News Tonight. A graduate of Harvard University, Jeff holds an M.F.A in studio art from the University of California, Irvine, and is currently a Doctoral candidate in Sociology at Stanford University.